In a shocking turn of events, oddsmakers have given Ron Paul longer odds from his 6-1 peak at Sportsbook.com, now listing him with 18-1 odds.  And perhaps even more shocking: Mike Huckabee moves from 25-1 odds to 10-1 odds on Friday.

"I believe the Sportsbook.com oddsmaker could have had his assistant update these odds," commented a stunned Carrie Stroup, who acts as liaison between Sportsbook.com and the Gambling911.com website.  "The logic here does not seem to make much sense."

Huckabee should certainly be seeing shorter odds as his numbers increase in the polls, but for Ron Paul to drop is somewhat of a mystery.

"Sportsbook.com has been offering a line on how much Ron Paul's campaign will raise during an upcoming money drive and has informed us that the amount of action on this bet was pretty enormous," Stroup said.

The logic could be that more of Sportsbook.com's regular customers are starting to see some value in Huckabee, a new darling of the press.  It should be noted that on the Republican side, Mitt Romney has not moved off of 8-1 odds while Rudy Giuliani has moved back up from 5-1 to 3-1, where he had initially peaked.

John McCain has really taken a hit.  Once a favorite of the Republicans, his odds have collapsed from 5-1 to 25-1.  Fred Thompson has also dropped down from a peak of 4-1 to 25-1. 

But Ron Paul fans need not be too alarmed, Carrie points out.

"Should he win, the payout is that much greater: $1800 for every $100 bet."

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Payton O'Brien, Gambling911.com Senior Editor POBrien@CostiganMedia.com

Originally published December 7, 2007 1:36 pm EST